Flying vehicles such as drones are often fitted with antennas that allow signals to be transmitted or received. These vehicles also need to be supplied with power in order to operate. This supply can be provided by a battery with which the flying vehicle is equipped, but since said battery has a limited range, most of the time the vehicles are supplied by a cable carrying the power and connected to a terrestrial station.
Moreover, installing an antenna on the flying vehicle or the captive vehicle can lead to the vehicle being overdimensioned, and/or to flight instability. When the antenna is installed under the captive vehicle, it is then necessary for the bulk to be taken into consideration on the ground.
The patent FR 2 278 571 describes an example of a captive vehicle equipped with an antenna. FIG. 1 shows a flying vehicle A connected to a mobile terrestrial station B. The flying vehicle comprises a payload C, such as a camera, a radio device, an antenna, lift-producing blades D, D′ and a tether cable E, known as a “tether”, which allows the payload C to be connected to the terrestrial station and is not used to take electric power to the flying vehicle. The station has a winch T allowing the cable to be wound up and unwound, and a platform P for the flying vehicle to launch and land. In this example, the radiating element is separate from the supply cord.
Another example is provided in the patent application US 2002/0167702, which presents a dedicated physical link that is independent of the links necessary for the payload. The tether has wires carrying electric power.
The patent application US 2003/0222811 describes an antenna system connected by a cable or tether.
The prior art systems therefore have particularly the following disadvantages:
limited range if the power for ensuring that the vehicle is maintained in flight is onboard, for example the power supplied by a battery, inertial storage,
overdimensioning of the vehicle taking into consideration the mass of the antenna and the mass of the supply cable.
There is currently a need to have a structure that allows both the radiating element function and the supply of power to the flying vehicle to be provided.
In the description that follows, the expressions “flying vehicle”, “captive vehicle” and “carrier” are used indiscriminately to denote one and the same object connected to a station by a cable.